Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Being the city’s neighborhood Spiderman certainly took Hiccup some getting used to. After being bitten by a radioactive spider (which he stubbornly tried to help get to safety), he’d developed some… odd powers. The first week he spent with his hands constantly sticking to objects and spiderwebs suddenly shooting out of his wrists whenever he tilted his hand too far back. By now, Hiccup had learned to control his powers and even fight crime with them. Every day after school, he would race to an alley to change into his suit (which he painstakingly designed and sewed all by himself) and spend the evening swinging from buildings, searching for crime. Though the city hadn’t been particularly active, the little crimes Hiccup had been able to stop gave him an incredible rush, a feeling that could only be compared to soaring through the air hanging from a web.

All was going well. Hiccup had done a great job hiding his new gifts from his father by claiming he was spending all his time after school preparing for football tryouts, which is what his dad had always wanted. It wasn’t too far-fetched either- the sudden gift of powers had led to a vast change in his physique, causing Hiccup to actually grow muscle where he used to swear there was just bone. His dad was happy and so was he.

Hiccup's friends at school hadn’t seemed to notice either. He wasn’t incredibly close with the decathlon team, but he’d managed to actually develop some friendships through the practices and even hang out with some of them. Fishlegs would even wait by his locker in the mornings to discuss random facts, which, though it was odd, Hiccup appreciated. The team captain, Astrid, still hardly looked at him with more than a glance or an eyeroll, but the glances had definitely increased. Overall, life was pretty great, minus the decrease of time he had for any homework or decathlon.

When he walked into school on Thursday after a particularly slow day where he mainly helped the elderly cross the street, Hiccup found Fishlegs waiting at his locker. Unlike usually, he didn’t appear to be as excited.

“Hiccup! Where were you yesterday? This is the third practice you’ve missed!” Fishlegs said while Hiccup opened his locker. He had clearly forgotten that Wednesdays and Fridays after school, he had decathlon practice- but the life of a superhero meant hardly any free time.

“Sorry Fishlegs… I must’ve eaten some bad sushi or something. It was not a great night…” Hiccup muttered, glancing to the side and hoping he seemed convincing.

“Aw man, I’m sorry! But… you should tell Astrid. She’s mad and thinks you’re making up excuses. I told her that was crazy because what else would you have to do!” Ouch. Hiccup playfully hit Fishlegs on the shoulder, shaking his head.

“Okay, wow, rude. I’ll talk to her…” Hiccup muttered, trailing off as Astrid walked by them in the hallway. Her hair was braided down her back and her eyes were shining brightly, her posture perfectly upright as she confidently walked. She threw her head back in a laugh at something one of her friends was saying, and Hiccup found himself smiling.

“What.” Astrid snapped, glaring at him as she walked by. Hiccup dropped his books. Fishlegs laughed, bending down to grab the books while Hiccup smacked his forehead.

“Seriously dude? I think she’s gonna start finding the staring a little bit weird.” Fishlegs smiled and nudged his friend.

“Oops.” Hiccup flushed and grabbed his books, shoving them into his bag. The warning bell rang and he split from his friend, heading to his next class.

Chapter Text

The next day, Hiccup decided to stray from his typical routine and actually attend decathalon practice after school. Astrid’s glaring at him the other day pretty much convinced him- she was far too terrifying when she was mad to be messed with.

When he arrived, Fishlegs looked particularly excited to see him, but the rest of the team stared and even rolled their eyes.

“Look who decided to show up…” Snotlout sneered, rolling his eyes and nudging Tuffnut with his elbow.

“Ow…” Tuffnut yelped, rubbing his ribs.

“That’s enough.” Astrid said. “Hiccup, go sit down.”

The rest of practice had gone smoothly enough, besides Hiccups complete lack of focus. He got most of the questions right- decathalon had never been particularly difficult for him- but thoughts of what crimes could be occurring in the city distracted him. Astrid had to call his names multiple times to snap him back into reality and out of his crime fighting daydreams.

Right as practice ended, Hiccup raced out of the classroom with a yelped “Bye!”, almost sprinting to the alley. He had been perfecting some new mechanics in his suit, and he just had to try them out. Hiccup headed to a familiar alley and stashed his backpack behind a dumpster, pulling out his spiderman suit and tugging it on.

He spent the rest of that night swinging around, patrolling for crime. It wasn’t the most boring day, and he even got to stop a 7/11 robbery. Hiccup felt a bit guilty- he was hoping for crimes to occur just so he could stop them, even though he knew logically that the lack of crime was beneficial.

That night, he headed back to the alleyway in search of his backpack. He swung from rooftops he knew so well and only paused when he heard footsteps and conversation below him.

“That stupid stray got what it deserved anyway. Everyone knows black cats are bad luck!” One teenage boy jeered, laughing with his friends. Hiccup leaned closer, trying to catch the rest of their conversation. Despite their growing distance, his hearing capabilities had increased tremendously with the spider bite and he was able to eavesdrop.

“Did you see the look on its face! It looked so mad but couldn’t even do anything!” Another boy said, laughing.

Hiccups brows furrowed. He hated when people hurt animals, especially since he’d been rescuing them as spiderman. He slinked into the alleyway, deciding to let the boys be for now. After all, he didn’t even know if they had really hurt a stray.

While grabbing his bag (which he had left covered in webs and stuck to the side of the alley wall), Hiccup heard a hiss. He jumped back suddenly, then smacked himself for being startled at such a small thing. He was spiderman, after all. He could be tough!

He puffed his chest out and looked around for the source of the sound, scanning the alleyway. Even with his new and improved vision, he couldn’t spot any animals. The hissing continued, getting louder.

“Hello? Is something there?” Hiccup questioned, turning around in an attempt to see what he could be missing. The hissing got louder, almost sounding frantic now.

“Okay okay! I’m looking…” Hiccup mumbled, continuing to investigate the noise. It seemed to be coming from inside the dumpster. He threw open the lid and scanned around, finding an oddly shaped plastic bag that was moving around.

“What the…” Hiccup said. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you out of there.” He picked up the bag and it began moving around even more, as if something was frantically squirming inside. Hiccup placed the bag on the ground and carefully untied the knot, revealing an entrance.

Out stepped a beautiful black cat, fur glistening in the moonlight. His green eyes shone brightly and he looked directly up at Hiccup, right before he hissed and extended his paw to scratch the boy.

“Hey!” Hiccup complained, but it was already too late. The cat scampered out of the alley. Hiccup shrugged and went home, but found himself pondering the odd encounter the whole night.

Chapter Text

The next week, Hiccup made a point to attend every decathlon practice. The city had been pretty uneventful recently, and he figured he could at least take a few hours off every couple days from his vigilante life. His daily routine consisted of rolling out of bed, heading to school and spacing out during basically every class (it’s not his fault that superhero life is so much more entertaining than equations he could solve in his sleep!), and then attending decathlon practice on Wednesdays and Fridays. After practice, Hiccup would race out of school, web his backpack up in some random alley and do his best to fight crime. He’d gotten a few bruises from a mugging and some cuts and scrapes from a bank robbery, but things were pretty great overall.

One particular day, Hiccup found himself eyeing the clock eagerly during decathlon. He tapped his pencil and fidgeted throughout practice, mind clearly somewhere else. As soon as it hit 5 pm, he abruptly slid his chair back and stood up.

“Anyone else really tired? And uh, I’ve got that thing to uh, study for…” Hiccup said, stretching his arms in the air and trying to fake a yawn.

“Oh right, the history of the americas essay! I’m so behind in that class…” Fishlegs replied, trailing off and smiling.

“Practice is over. You’re welcome to leave to sleep or study or… whatever.” Astrid said. Hiccup found himself eyeing her. Her hair was braided back like usual with a few stray curls in the front. He’d watched them during english today as they fell in her face and she attempted to blow them away. He wished he could brush them back for her, tuck them carefully behind her ear-

“Hiccup! Do you want to study together? For the essay?”

“Uh, sorry Fishlegs, I can’t today. I have to help clean.” Hiccup smiled guiltily, looking down at the floor.

“Alright, just let me know when we can hang out! It’s been a while and you’re always so busy…”

Hiccup nodded, grabbing his backpack and racing out of the practice room. He ran down to a familiar alley and took off his backpack, resting it on the floor and reaching in to retrieve his suit. As soon as he touched the cool fabric, he heard a voice from behind.

“Hiccup. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but if you’re not ready for nationals I’ll have Snotlout replace you.”

Shoot. Astrid. He zipped up the backpack and shoved it behind him, kicking it with his back leg in a way he hoped was inconspicuous.

“Uh, h-hey Astrid! Crazy to uh… see you here. Right now.”

“I just saw you a minute ago. How is it crazy.” She glared at him. He tried to fight the urge to look at the floor.

“Just, wow, both of us in an alley! That’s uh, pretty crazy, right!”

She rolled her eyes and Hiccup mentally kicked himself.

“I’m serious though Hiccup. I won’t pretend to have any clue what you’ve been doing recently, but I know something shady is happening with you. I’m gonna figure out what it is, and you better not let it affect this team.”

Hiccup gulped.

“Yep! Whatever you say, but uh, nothing shady here! All normal. Lots of sun. Super sunny where I am, so uh, not shady at all!”

Hiccup watched as Astrid’s eyes began searching the alley and eventually landed on his backpack. He took a tiny step to try and block it and watched one of her eyebrows raise as she looked at him.

“What are you doing here anyway? Who goes to an alley right after school…”

“Well, actually it’s not right after school since practice, so…”

“Whatever, doesn’t matter. Why are you here, Hiccup? You’re hiding something…”

A clang came from the end of the alley, the sound of metal rubbing against something. A tiny meow accompanied it. Hiccup watched as Astrid turned her head and he eventually followed, eyes landing on a black cat.

Could it be the same one from before? No way… New york definitely had more than 1 stray cat. Still, those green eyes looked the exact same…

Hesitantly, Hiccup took a step towards the cat and reached a hand out, kneeling down. He watched its head perk up and pupils readjust to the light. The stray cocked his head, and Hiccup instantly knew it was the same one as before. It took a few steps and began to hesitantly nuzzle against his hand.

“Hiccup, what?” Astrid said. Her expression was hard to read, but it looked like mainly confusion. Hiccup grinned sheepishly.

“Oh yeah. I’m here to help this cat.” He flushed at the obvious lie and hoped Astrid wouldn’t be too suspicious, even though it was pretty clear that he wasn’t being truthful.

“How did you know the cat was here.” SHe frowned at him, watching as the cat kept nuzzling his hand.

“Umm… He’s uh, my pet! Yep, right, my pet.”

“So why is he in the alley?”

“Well, he isn’t exactly my pet. More like uh, a stray that I care for?”

Astrid took a hesitant step forward and knelt down to be closer to the pair.

“Hmm… What’s his name?” She abruptly stretched her hand out towards the cat and it hissed, revealing a gummy mouth and a missing tooth. The cat retreated into the corner of the alleyway away from Astrid and meowed.
‘
“Toothless! My, uh, stray. Toothless.”

Astrid didn’t look impressed, but she seemed to let it slide. She shrugged and stood up.

“Whatever, Hiccup. Be ready for nationals and don’t miss any practices.”

“Yep, got it…” He trailed off.

“And trust me, I will figure out what’s going on with you. Mark my words. Nothing happens on this team without me finding out.”

Hiccup gulped and nodded, looking at the few freckles on Astrid’s face. Her eyes looked so stormy today. She seemed upset about something, but he knew it wouldn’t do any good for him to ask.

Astrid stood and walked away, turning around just once to glance back at Hiccup. She walked back into school (according to Hiccup’s enhanced hearing) and he deemed it safe to put on his suit, webbing his backpack to the wall after. He turned to the cat and lightly pet it before preparing to go fight crime.

“I’ll be back, Toothless. Just wait here for a little while.”

Hiccup shot a web up into the air and swung himself up, soaring through the air to go scout Manhattan.